The Environmental Services Association recorded 1,518 fires across the UK waste sector in the year to March 2026. At least 541 of them were attributed to lithium-ion batteries, with a further 216 battery fires in bin lorries.
Separate analysis found UK fire brigades now attend a lithium-ion-related fire roughly every five hours.
Those numbers describe a safety problem, not a recycling problem. And unlike most waste issues, this one can start inside your own building, in your own bin store, before the lorry ever arrives.
*Sources: Environmental Services Association via Eunomia, letsrecycle.com*
Why a battery in a bin behaves so badly
A lithium-ion cell stores a great deal of energy in a very small, sealed package. It is designed to release that energy slowly. Damage it, and it releases it all at once.
Inside a bin lorry, the compaction ram applies several tonnes of force. Inside a sorting facility, material is dropped, screened and shredded. Either environment will puncture or crush a cell.
When that happens, the cell enters thermal runaway. The internal temperature rises fast, the cell vents flammable gas, and it ignites. It then heats the cells next to it, which do the same thing.
Two properties make this worse than a normal fire. It generates its own oxygen, so smothering it does not work the way it does with other fires. And it can reignite hours after appearing to be out.
That is why the waste industry calls loose batteries in bins “zombie batteries”. They sit inert for weeks and then start a fire in a compaction chamber at three in the morning.
The devices nobody thinks of as batteries
Businesses are usually good about obvious batteries. It is the embedded ones that end up in the general bin.
- Disposable vapes, which contain a lithium cell and are legally classed as both a battery and waste electrical equipment
- Power tool packs, particularly damaged or swollen ones
- Laptops, tablets and phones being disposed of at end of life
- Wireless keyboards, mice and headsets
- Power banks left in desk drawers for years
- Emergency lighting and alarm backup cells
- Greeting cards, promotional items and branded giveaways with sound or light functions
- Bluetooth speakers and wearables
- UPS units from server rooms
- E-bike and e-scooter batteries, which are the highest-energy items likely to appear on a commercial site
The swollen ones matter most. A battery that has visibly expanded is already failing and should be isolated immediately, not left on a shelf.
What the law asks of your business
Waste batteries are covered by the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009, which sit alongside your general duty of care.
Three practical obligations follow from that.
Batteries must be kept out of general and mixed waste. They are a separate stream. That is a separation requirement, not a best practice recommendation.
They must go to an approved treatment operator via a licensed carrier, with waste transfer documentation like any other stream.
Industrial and automotive batteries have their own route. Producers and distributors of these have take-back obligations, and larger batteries are frequently classified as hazardous waste, which brings consignment note requirements.
If your business sells portable batteries above a set annual threshold, you also have producer obligations to join a compliance scheme. That is a separate question from disposing of your own waste batteries, and worth checking if you retail anything battery-powered.
Storing them safely, which is mostly about the container
Most battery fires that start on a customer’s premises trace back to storage rather than disposal. Four things make the difference.
Use a purpose-made battery container. Fire-retardant, lidded, and designed for the job. A cardboard box on a shelf next to the stock is how a small problem becomes a large one.
Tape the terminals on anything above an AA. Particularly 9V batteries, lithium coin cells and any tool pack. A terminal touching metal is a short circuit waiting for a quiet moment.
Never store them in direct sunlight or next to a heat source. Heat accelerates degradation, and a degraded cell is an unstable one.
Isolate damaged and swollen cells immediately. Separate container, away from the building where practical, collected as a priority rather than on the next scheduled visit. Never put a swollen battery back into general storage.
The container should also be somewhere staff will actually walk to. A battery bin in a locked cupboard on another floor guarantees batteries end up in the desk bin instead.
Vapes deserve their own paragraph
Disposable vapes are the fastest-growing source of this problem in commercial premises, and they are the hardest to control because they arrive in staff pockets rather than through procurement.
Legally, a disposable vape is both waste electrical equipment and a waste battery. It cannot go in general waste or in dry mixed recycling. It cannot go in the ordinary battery box alongside AAs either, because the cell is sealed inside a plastic body that a standard battery recycler is not set up to open.
If your workplace has any meaningful number of vape users, you need a dedicated collection point for them. It costs very little, and it removes the single most likely ignition source in a staff room bin.
A five-minute audit worth doing this week
Walk the building and answer these.
- Where does a used battery go right now, if a member of staff has one in their hand? If nobody can answer instantly, they go in the nearest bin.
- Is there a labelled battery container, and is it on the route people already walk?
- Are the terminals taped on anything stored?
- Is there anywhere for a disposable vape?
- Are there swollen or damaged cells sitting on a shelf?
- Does your IT disposal route account for the batteries inside the equipment?
Every one of those is fixable in a week. Together they remove most of the risk.
Frequently asked questions
Can businesses put batteries in general waste?
No. Waste batteries are a separate stream under the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009 and must be collected separately by a licensed carrier for treatment at an approved facility. Beyond the legal position, batteries in general waste are the leading cause of fires in bin lorries and waste facilities.
What should I do with a swollen lithium battery?
Isolate it immediately in a fire-retardant container, away from other batteries and away from anything flammable, and arrange a priority collection rather than waiting for a scheduled visit. Do not puncture it, charge it, or put it back into general storage. A swollen cell has already failed internally and is unstable.
How do businesses dispose of disposable vapes?
Disposable vapes are classed as both waste electrical equipment and waste batteries, so they cannot go in general waste, dry mixed recycling, or a standard battery box. They need a dedicated vape collection point emptied by a licensed carrier into a specialist treatment route.
Are lithium battery fires really that common?
Yes. The Environmental Services Association recorded 1,518 waste sector fires in the year to March 2026, with at least 541 attributed to lithium-ion batteries and a further 216 in bin lorries. Industry analysis puts UK fire service attendance at roughly one lithium-ion fire every five hours.
Do I need waste transfer paperwork for batteries?
Yes. Waste batteries need a waste transfer note like any other controlled waste stream. Industrial and automotive batteries are frequently classified as hazardous, which means a hazardous waste consignment note rather than a standard transfer note, and a longer record retention period. Your carrier should assign the correct EWC code.
The bottom line
Batteries are the only waste stream where getting it wrong can burn down the bin store.
The fix is not complicated, and it is not expensive. A proper container, taped terminals, a vape point, and somewhere obvious for staff to put them. That is most of the risk gone for the price of a morning’s work.
Priority Waste provides compliant battery collections for businesses nationally, including damaged and swollen cells and dedicated vape points, with full waste transfer documentation. Book a free waste review, and we will look at your storage arrangements as part of it.
